Substrate
- Thread starter Kyel3840
- Start date
hello; To me this is a question with a few areas. One is what look you happen to like. That is personal.
Another is the problems sand itself can have. It is hard on pump parts and will wear them out sooner. If it is fine sand, as much of sand will be, it can form gas pockets if it is over an inch deep. There are ways to help a bit with both these issues.
There is a way to have sand and avoid the mentioned issues. I did it by getting construction sand and dry sifting it thru a self-made sieve. Turns out there are sand particles of many sizes in construction sand. The dry sifting allows the finer stuff to be discarded. What size particles you wind up with will depend on your preference.
The coarser particles of sand or gravel do not get into filters and do not pack so tight and form pockets. At least they never have for me.
Another is the problems sand itself can have. It is hard on pump parts and will wear them out sooner. If it is fine sand, as much of sand will be, it can form gas pockets if it is over an inch deep. There are ways to help a bit with both these issues.
There is a way to have sand and avoid the mentioned issues. I did it by getting construction sand and dry sifting it thru a self-made sieve. Turns out there are sand particles of many sizes in construction sand. The dry sifting allows the finer stuff to be discarded. What size particles you wind up with will depend on your preference.
The coarser particles of sand or gravel do not get into filters and do not pack so tight and form pockets. At least they never have for me.
I find gravel is more prone to hydrogen sulfide gas pockets than sand, because it is easier for detritus to collect in the larger interstitial spaces between grains, than sand.
Sand lets detritus sit on top, and as long as you siphon the mulm out regularly, not a problem for working below the surface and creating pockets.
I always use pool filter sand, which is heavier, and tends not to get sucked up in filters, and get a chance to ruin pumps. PFS is chosen to be heavy enough to be backwashed, and quickly fall back, so as not to lose media in the process.
Play sand is probably the most apt to get sucked up, and destroy pumps. I tried play sand decades ago, and it cut the life of impellers by more than half.
I also feel you don't need as much PFS for sufficient coverage, in the 6ft tank below, I used one 50lb bag for the entire tank, to a depth of 1 inch ($5), and with only 1 inch, the tank never gets gas pockets, and is easy to siphon out, by holding the tube about 1 inch above the substrate surface
Sand lets detritus sit on top, and as long as you siphon the mulm out regularly, not a problem for working below the surface and creating pockets.
I always use pool filter sand, which is heavier, and tends not to get sucked up in filters, and get a chance to ruin pumps. PFS is chosen to be heavy enough to be backwashed, and quickly fall back, so as not to lose media in the process.
Play sand is probably the most apt to get sucked up, and destroy pumps. I tried play sand decades ago, and it cut the life of impellers by more than half.
I also feel you don't need as much PFS for sufficient coverage, in the 6ft tank below, I used one 50lb bag for the entire tank, to a depth of 1 inch ($5), and with only 1 inch, the tank never gets gas pockets, and is easy to siphon out, by holding the tube about 1 inch above the substrate surface
I have gone back and forth over the years, I most recently tried large-grain sand and have switched all my tanks (except hi-tech planted) to this substrate, and use a depth of about 1-2 inches. I used play sand in the past because of the price... not worth it. It got sucked up into my filter any time my cichlids kicked it up, which was often. The brand I use now is estes' stony river white aquarium sand. I think it looks great, and it can be vacuumed to a degree. It will get sucked into the hose, but if you stop flow for a second by pinching the hose, the sand falls back down.
I've been using pool filter sand since my first planted aquarium. PFS is the truth as a substrate. People hate them but I purposely populate all of my aquariums with MTS to help sift the sand. With my black nasties I don't have a problem with the sand not getting sifted. They dig all freaking day!!!! It's definitely heavy enough to not get sucked up by canisters
I'm currently running caribsea moonlight sand it is super fine and gets stirred up easily. I have some some not too worried about it damaging the pump as for the aquaclearclear 110 that I use I have placed a sponge on the intake tube to prevent them from getting into the motor housing. I might sound like the way it locks can it be happier with it. I did use pfs, for some reason I couldn't keep diatom algae under control. After the switch with has been about 3 months now I have not experienced it yet
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